1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a temperature control apparatus for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a technology of improving air-conditioning efficiency of hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles which implement air-conditioning, using a heat pump.
2. Description of Related Art
A heat pump, as shown in FIG. 1, is designed to air-condition an interior, e.g., of a vehicle, using an interior heat exchanger 500 at the interior and an exterior heat exchanger 502 at the outside, which are switched to function independently as a evaporator and a condenser in accordance with switching the flow direction of a coolant compressed by compressor 504 through a 4-way valve 506.
FIG. 1 shows an interior heating mode, illustratively when the exterior condition is that air with moisture below zero is around exterior heat exchanger 502. In this instance, exterior heat exchanger 502 may become covered with frost and the frost reduces performance of exterior heat exchanger 502, such that the interior heating performance is reduced.
Therefore, it is necessary to operate the heat pump in a defrost mode in order to remove the frost, which requires switching the heating mode to the defrost mode, such that it is difficult to appropriately control the interior temperature of a vehicle.
Hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles are equipped with electric devices, such as a motor, an inverter, and a converter. Typically, a specific cooling system is provided in hybrid vehicles to remove heat generated while the electric devices are in operation, and in the related art, the heat from the electric devices is discharged outside simply through the cooling system.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.